The Goddess (1958; d. John Cromwell)
Written by Paddy Chayevsky. Starring Kim Stanley and Lloyd Bridges. Stanley plays a character clearly based on Marilyn Monroe, rather extraordinary when you consider Monroe was still alive. It’s a brutal movie about stardom and loneliness. It’s a re-watch for a piece I was writing.
Harriet Craig (1950; d. Vincent Sherman)
Starring Joan Crawford as the perfect housewife. One of her all-time best performances.
Autumn Leaves (1956; d. Robert Aldrich)
Another wonderful Joan Crawford performance from the 1950s. In this, she plays a professional transcriber who lives in a little bungalow and doesn’t have much of a social life. (The fact that Crawford makes it believable that this woman doesn’t ever date should have gotten her an Oscar nomination). Into her life comes a younger man (played by a vulnerable and charming young Cliff Robertson). A romance begins, full of her anxiety about being too old for him. The story takes a turn halfway through. There’s mental illness involved and it’s a very compassionate portrait of a nervous breakdown and treatment for madness. This is a very good melodrama.
Queen Bee (1956; d. Ranald MacDougall)
Joan Crawford in High Bitch Mode. Totally different from what she was doing the same year in Autumn Leaves. I keep saying this and only a few people – who get it – agree: Joan Crawford had range. Within her set persona, she had great range. She was very very responsive to good material and was able to subtly tweak her “self” in order to play the role. Queen Bee is not as good as Autumn Leaves – but she – as always – commits 100% to it.
Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964; d. Bryan Forbes)
Kim Stanley was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for this role. She only did four films in her career and was nominated for Oscars twice (for this one, and for Frances 20 years later.)
The Story of Esther Costello (1957; d. David Miller)
This is Joan Crawford’s “Miracle Worker.” It’s a very VERY weird movie. You have to see it. It opens with Joan Crawford, done to the nines, strolling through a poverty-struck Irish village. Because of course. There’s a whole montage with Crawford doing sign language with her young deaf charge. But the reason to see it is that it portrays a charity’s fund raiser event as practically a Nuremberg-Rally. It’s completely insane.
The Maltese Falcon (1941; d. John Huston)
It’s such a strange movie. It has such a pitch-black heart. I can practically recite the whole thing from memory, but still, it never gets old.
Supernatural, Season 12, Episode 14 “The Raid” (2017; d. John MacCarthy)
There was at least some understanding here, in the opening scene, that what is interesting about this show is when people have FEELINGS. For God’s SAKE. Plot without FEELINGS, plot without Brother Melodrama scenes … is deadly. It’s not Supernatural. And Season 12 has not been Supernatural. I no longer have hope that they can correct this trajectory. It’s too far gone. But the first scene between the brothers and Mary here was good. Not as good as it could be. But at LEAST there was some emotions present and Ackles and Padalecki got to ACT. There’s some essential spark missing though. Always. Nobody involved seems to have A. watched the earlier seasons or B. understood the earlier seasons if they did watch them.
Feud, Episode 1 (2017; d. Ryan Murphy)
Been having a lot of fun writing the re-caps for the NY Times. It’s not perfect, by any means, but it’s a very rich experience, with a lot to discuss. My re-cap.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1984; d. Jack Hofsiss)
This was the televised version, starring Jessica Lange, Tommy Lee Jones, Rip Torn, and Kim Stanley as Big Mama. I’ve been researching a piece like crazy, as is probably obvious. I think it’s going up this week.
Tomorrow (1960; d. Robert Mulligan)
This was a live television production on Playhouse 90, of the Horton Foote adaptation of William Faulkner’s story. (I wrote a piece for Film Comment on the film version, starring Robert Duvall.) The live television version starred Kim Stanley.
This Beautiful Fantastic (2017; d. Simon Aboud)
Nope. My review.
The Bachelor, Episode 2
I got so sucked into The Bachelorette last year that figured I’d just pop in and see what was happening. I was stunned by how boring the bachelor of this season is. He seems super passive. I do not care for passive men. And this is the problem with The Bachlor, as opposed to The Bachelorette. It encourages the “bachelor” to sit around like a pasha, watching a harem do loop-de-loops to get his attention. Whereas with The Bachelorette, it’s the other way around, and – retro or not – it’s just a better scenario. Mainly my point is: Nick seems like a wet sock. Also, hasn’t he been a contestant on this show, like, 4 times?
Supernatural, Season 12, Episode 15, “Somewhere Between Heaven and Hell” (2017; d. Nina Lopez-Corrado)
I barely remember this episode, but I do remember the “Take care of her” moment and I thought, “What??” That was written by someone who thinks he understands the show, but honestly doesn’t. This is Season 12. Not Season 5. The Sam-Dean relationship has moved past stuff like that. And if that’s the best you can do with providing interaction between the brothers, then please, don’t bother. Because it’s WORSE when you THINK you’re giving “us” what we want, when really you’re just throwing us an incorrectly-made fake bone. This must be how Destiel fans feel all the time.
Frances (1982; d. Graeme Clifford)
I watched this movie so many times in high school that I had it memorized. (We had to rent VCRs back in those days.) I also held a tape recorder up to the television and recorded the opening monologue/voice-over. Which I then did as a monologue in my Drama Club class. So you see. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this story of mental illness – or presumed mental illness – and crackups – resonated with me, at 14, 15. Maybe I knew where I would be going, maybe I knew what I should fear the most. At any rate, it’s been years since I’ve watched Frances. Kim Stanley got nominated for an Oscar for her performance as Frances’ mother. It’s been the Month o’ Kim Stanley. And the Month o’ Davis-Crawford.
The Right Stuff (1983; d. Philip Kaufman)
What a movie. It’s hard to picture a film like this being made today. It’s a movie for grownups, and movies for grownups are hard to come by now. Great performances. GREAT story based on a great book. It all worked. Hats off. Kim Stanley played the famous “Pancho”. It was her final film role.
I Can’t Imagine Tomorrow (d. Glenn Jordan)
A televised version of an obscure Tennessee Williams play (also known as “Dragon Country”), starring Kim Stanley and William Redfield. You can feel Williams going for a Pinter-esque thing here, and it’s not entirely successful, but still: it’s riveting. I did a scene from I Can’t Imagine Tomorrow for my initial audition for the Actors Studio. Well worth it to seek out (it’s on Youtube). Kim Stanley’s work is exquisite. Unlike anybody else’s work.
Feud, Episode 2, “The Other Woman” (2017; d. Ryan Murphy)
My re-cap at the NY Times.
Feud, Episode 3, “Mommie Dearest” (2017; d. Gwyneth Horder-Payton)
My re-cap at the NY Times.
Feud, Episode 4, “More, or Less” (2017; d. Liza Johnson)
My re-cap at the NY Times.
Feud, Episode 5, “And the Winner Is… (The Oscars of 1963)” (2017; d. Ryan Murphy)
My re-cap at the NY Times.
Ben Casey, Season 2, Episode 15-16, “A Cardinal Act of Mercy” (1963; d. Sydney Pollack)
I sought this out (the whole thing is on Youtube) because Kim Stanley played a guest spot on this medical drama TV series, and won an Emmy for it. And check out the director.
Supernatural, Season 11, Episode 12, “Don’t You Forget About Me” (2016; d. Stefan Pleszczynski)
Lost in a trance of the memory of better days. It looks so EASY when you watch an episode like this. AND, this is far from a perfect episode. It features a third-act monster monologue that goes on for 20 minutes practically. But STILL. Look how much they got done, look how emotions were explored, character, mood, humor. It looks effortless. It’s a great reminder that effortlessness only occurs when everyone on board knows what they are doing, and what show they are working on, and push themselves to continue doing it, to continue making it right.
Supernatural, Season 11, Episode 13, “Love Hurts” (2016; d. Phil Sgriccia)
It’s unbelievable the change one hiatus can make. I mean … re-watching these episodes makes it blindingly clear how much has been lost. Everything has been lost. The final scene here between the brothers, the enormous closeups, the intricate emotions churning around … it’s so good.
The Traveling Lady (1957; d. Robert Mulligan)
A live television production (Studio One) of the Horton Foote play, starring Kim Stanley (who had also done the theatrical production). The whole thing is on Youtube. Do yourself a favor …
Something Wild (1961; d. Jack Garfein)
There was a screening this past month at the Core Club, and I interviewed Jack Garfein afterwards for the post-screening QA. It was a beautiful evening. (You can read my Criterion essay on Something Wild here.)
Denial (2016; d. Mick Jackson)
I had not seen this. I am very familiar with that whole trial, which I followed at the time through news reports. I’m not a huge Rachel Weisz person but I thought she was fanTAStic in this, and I loved how the film kept its eye on the ball, and didn’t try to muck it up by giving her a personal life, a boyfriend, an affair, a flirtation. Thank God. Nope. She was an academic, fighting for her reputation, but also fighting for the rest of us. Christopher Hitchens wrote a fascinating essay about David Irving – excerpt here.
The Wedding Plan (2017; d. Rama Burshtein)
An Israeli rom-com – that takes place in the Orthodox community – which opens in May of this year and I highly recommend it. I’m in love with it. I’ll have a review of it in the next issue of Film Comment.
Dateline, Season 10, Episode 7 “Manner of Death” (2017)
Now that I actually have TV hookup, my interest in blood/guts/crime will be laid even more bare. This was a story of a sociopath who poisoned her husband with antifreeze. Or maybe she didn’t. Keith Morrison: never change.
TCM: Robert Osborne tribute
Along with some of the other tributes, I watched the beautiful interview Alec Baldwin did with Osborne. What a fascinating man, what an interesting life. I miss him already.
The Zookeeper’s Wife (2017; d. Niki Caro)
It’s a very good story, but I didn’t really care for the movie. Which probably means I’m a party-pooper in some circles, especially since the film was directed by a woman. I don’t grade on a curve, though. Caro is clearly a very good director. It’s not her fault. I blame the script. Also by a woman. Here’s my review.
3 episodes of Intervention
Once you start, you can’t stop.
The Stranger (1946; d. Orson Welles)
I love this movie. Very moody and very very very paranoid.
Ice Castles (1978; d. Donald Wrye)
What a trip. Great fun to watch it again. It’s been … decades. We discussed it over at Rogerebert.com.
July and Half of August (2016; d. Brandeaux Tourville)
Just because! Exciting times ahead!
The Discovery (2017; d. Charlie McDowell)
Sigh. No. To quote Jessie, the “heterosexual banalities” were a real drag. My review.
Moana (2016; d. Ron Clements, Don Hall, John Musker, Chris Williams)
I hadn’t seen it and just watched it with my niece Pearl. I was a WRECK during that final sequence and tried to hold it together so I didn’t scare my niece. What a gorgeous film.
Bar Rescue
This is what it means to have TV. You find these weird shows. And you watch. I actually discovered this show while I was in Hawaii last year, and on election night, when the returns were coming in, I finally couldn’t bear it anymore and started channel-surfing. Tripped over a Bar Rescue marathon and watched, like, 8 episodes in a row. So it’s a terrible memory but it helped me endure that night when I was all by myself in a hotel room thousands of miles away from home and anyone I knew, watching the catastrophe unfold.
My 600-Lb. Life
Good Lord, what rabbit hole did I fall into? I’ve been so out of the TV loop for 10+ years that I have no idea what’s on. I got sucked into two episodes of this. I will never watch it again.
Supernatural, Season 12, Episode 16, “Ladies Drink Free” (2017; d. Amyn Kaderali)
I’m sure I’m being a bore. And I don’t want MY comments to impede anyone else’s enjoyment. I am envious of those who are finding the good elements this season, and I respect other people’s perspectives. This is just mine. And I say: everything feels OFF. The “You put on flannel, you pick up a gun” line is a perfect example. It’s “meta” but not in a good way. That’s not how Dean talks. The whole “flannel” thing … it’s just how they dress, they aren’t aware of it as a hunter-conceit, or a “this is how we dress cause we’re hunters”. It’s too AWARE of itself. It’s a line that’s on the outside looking in, as opposed to the other way around. I thought Kathryn Newton did a phenomenal job in the “cure” scene: Imagine being her and filming that. Having to writhe around, growling and screaming, as three grown men stood there and watched. I was having a panic attack just thinking about it. And yet again, YET AGAIN, no scene at the end where the brothers freakin’ INTERACT … with EACH OTHER. I guess that’s the real sign of what’s wrong: there’s nothing going on between the brothers, there’s nothing to talk about. Mom has been neutralized as a topic, they have squandered so much, wasted so much time and energy focusing on stuff that I, personally, do not find interesting … that if Sam and Dean WERE left alone, they’d just stare at each other. And Sam would say some comforting “rational” thing, and Dean would roll his eyes, and it would all be very cliched, with no “Oomph” behind it. Ackles was doing good work showing his annoyance at BMOL, and there were some interesting explorations of what to do with monsters … FINALLY, some MORAL issues, which the show used to be so interested in … but it’s not enough. Interesting, too, that Castiel was not present at all … and now we have this new “sidekick” … even though Claire is supposedly Castiel’s responsibility? Where’s the continuity. WHERE is the continuity?
The Bride Wore Red (1937; d. Dorothy Arzner)
Wonderful film, classic “shopgirl made good” Joan Crawford performance. Although her character here isn’t a shopgirl. She’s a “cabaret singer”, who – let’s be honest – is really a prostitute. Pretty Woman is basically a remake, and the scene with Julia Roberts getting coached by Hector Elizondo on the silverware is a direct steal from The Bride Wore Red. Crawford, as always, is wonderful.
Haha, I am actually very very glad to read your negative responses to these episodes, because at this point — and this sounds horrible and y’all should ignore me and please write many lovely things if you’re feeling it — positive responses (and I’m seeing a lot of them, or at least qualified responses that are qualified about the “wrong” things) are seriously bumming me out. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills. I feel like all people want anymore is a nice show with nice happy things and cute friends for the boys to be cute around and if anything nasty or Problematic happens then the show has to tap the viewer on the shoulder and say That Was Nasty BTW.
And if that is the core or expression of the emotional/thematic problems then the expression of the downturn in CRAFT is those fucking flashbacks, can anyone tell me what the hell is going on with the FLASHBACKS? They make me want to scream, while murdering. How dumb do they think we are? Do they think what they are doing is continuity and evocation of history and consequence? How weak. The show was capable of being evocative and resonant and mysterious about its history only last year. Oh, calamity.
I have no idea what’s going on with Sam or Dean. The only time their actions ring true is when they’re angry. And then that anger just disappears by the next scene! What’s that about?? I would rather have Farting Nun Supernatural than this thinned out plasmatic Bloodlines version. Dabb, what hast thou wrought.
Every season of this show has been Fucked Up — messed up, messy, gross, awful, heartbreaking — in some way that deeply implicated Sam and or Dean, about which their feelings and experiences MATTERED. Maybe season one didn’t — but season one was full of anxiety about a PARENT, believe it or not, and it also had that highway romance getting-to-know-you je ne sais quoi. It’s all just…..gone.
// in some way that deeply implicated Sam and or Dean, about which their feelings and experiences MATTERED. //
Right.
and it’s the disappearance of THAT that is really evident.
I do not understand how some people are not seeing this or getting how catastrophic it is.
It’s almost like – Okay, all you people have been whining about why can’t everyone sit around and be nice to each other – and here it is, here is the emotional calm you’ve been yearning for – and it’s TERRIBLE. You happy now?
// I feel like all people want anymore is a nice show with nice happy things and cute friends for the boys to be cute around and if anything nasty or Problematic happens then the show has to tap the viewer on the shoulder and say That Was Nasty BTW. //
It’s been a week since I’ve been on my own site – so I am so sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to this. Because this is some good stuff.
What you say there … I have always felt it to be a “thing” in this particular fandom and I don’t understand it. The reason the show is (was) so good was beCAUSE it dealt in mess and ambiguity. Not to mention “problematic” stuff – all. the. time. To have it removed entirely means we don’t actually have the show anymore. It’s not even FANFIC of the show – because fanfic at LEAST surges with sexuality. and these guys are completely neutered by the changes that have come about.
// then the expression of the downturn in CRAFT is those fucking flashbacks, can anyone tell me what the hell is going on with the FLASHBACKS? //
Wait … what flashbacks? To earlier episodes, you mean?
Yes – it’s extraordinary, the change. I’m still kind of disbelieving about just how much it has changed. It’s almost worse in episodes that almost “get there,” that almost do it right.
// The show was capable of being evocative and resonant and mysterious about its history only last year. //
I know.
It’s so upsetting.
Give me a farting nun any day.
//Give me a farting nun any day.//
*rushing to a tattoo parlor*
hahahaha
Oh the good old days of possessed Nuns exploding out of one another’s backsides. The good old days when THAT was the worst episode of Supernatural. #nostalgia
Whenever you gave time Sheila, no biggie!
It’s not even FANFIC of the show – because fanfic at LEAST surges with sexuality.
The show is supposed to do the hurting, and we are supposed to do the comforting. That’s why people have such tremendous investment in it. I know a lot of people are enjoying this newfound “healthiness” but I’m just not interested in a sexless comfort/comfort party…..what kind of rewatch value could this possibly have? Where is the tension? The life?
FLASHBACKS…I reckon about fifteen of the seventeen episodes have had flashbacks to previous eps or seasons or even more egregiously INTRA-episode flashbacks like the “this is how Mick handed the bullet to Sam” thing and similar dumbshit atrocities.
//The show is supposed to do the hurting, and we are supposed to do the comforting.// so true
When it comes to the show this season, I stay positive because that’s the type of fan I am (one who will blither on because of my investment in the show and love of these characters) but at the same time I KNOW and most people I talk with, THEY KNOW. Show direction and writing is starting to stink, and like a case of gangrene, Dabb needs to do some amputation to correct it before it kills off the show I love so much.
Oh Paula, you know, I truly find your positivity sincere and heartening, and my own miserly rage frustrating — I do like to think of myself as a positive person, ha ha, or at least one more interested in construction than destruction. I think people should focus on and celebrate whatever of the show and its fandom they want to and I am glad when they do. We all want this show to be the best it can be, to find its magic. And I am selfishly glad to read your accounts of people KNOWING something to be wrong, because I honestly do feel nuts sometimes, reading some comments. As much as I celebrate the show for its being available to multiple readings/viewer relationships I think over the last year I have come to realise just how different some viewers’ desires and expectations WRT to the show are to mine, and how different their reading processes are.
And I think like you and many of us — nothing will stop me crowing about what I love about the show, and I will be here ’til the end, and will happily cling to anything about the show that feels good! I cannot imagine that I will ever have anything bad to say about Sam’s hair.
Having said all that: in my opinion, it is Dabb who needs to be excised (and Singer who needs a stern talking to). I know there are writers who in the general consensus are awful, and other newer ones who have a greater or lesser grasp of voice and tone, and characters who some might consider a deadweight. All of these things would be mitigated or more bearable (as they have been in previous seasons) if I felt like the man at the top shared my view of what makes the show the show. Anyway! Onwards and upwards! I still have faith!
Dabb needs to take a seat on the writers’ bench again. In sports, there is a saying that a great player does not make a great coach. Same with show running, right? Bring in someone like J.H. Wyman (he has his own problems but ran the Fringe ship and for the first three seasons, that was tight). Have the feeling that some of the new writers would benefit from that.
Paula – I hold onto your positivity for myself!! I hope it’s not too much of a burden. :)
I will keep watching and I will keep hoping but at this point … wow. It feels really really lost.
I don’t know who’s in charge. I don’t feel like anyone is in charge. The tone of the show is way way off – and that is definitely my biggest beef.
It’s like Soulless Sam and how Dean knows “that’s not my brother”. I watch, and it looks sort of like Supernatural, and it’s the same faces but inside I think, “That’s not Supernatural. It’s an imposter.”
// As much as I celebrate the show for its being available to multiple readings/viewer relationships I think over the last year I have come to realise just how different some viewers’ desires and expectations WRT to the show are to mine, and how different their reading processes are. //
Yes, it’s very strange! I’m not really in touch with the rest of fandom – I get my “dispatches” from that world from you all – :) – and it’s one of those things where I just have to acknowledge that there is no right answer – even though to my mind the show is way WAY off. if this is pleasing to some people … the way it is now … well, I certainly am not about to tell them to not feel that way.
It’s kind of like what happened when I reviewed Captain Fantastic last year. I was so turned off by that movie that I actually wrote a kind of mean review – something I almost never do. I was offended by it – by the whole premise. I am still getting hate mail. I don’t even read it anymore because it’s all the same thing. But honestly it’s a perfect example of me just seeing somethign different than what these people saw …
I saw that father as an emotional bully and a cult leader. There’s no way I couldn’t see it that way. And the people who write to me saw him as a charming and romantic idealist. Like … this is an irreconcilable difference. I’m not saying I’m right – but I definitely felt, “WOW. I did not see that at ALL.”
So it’s an interesting thing when something like this happens.
Yeah – what is up with Singer these days?
How I would love to be a fly on the wall for private conversations. Because you KNOW at least HE knows. and JA and JP definitely know. In my opinion, the two of them seem bored out of their minds.
// The show is supposed to do the hurting, and we are supposed to do the comforting. //
This is a brilliant comment!!
// I know a lot of people are enjoying this newfound “healthiness” but I’m just not interested in a sexless comfort/comfort party //
This just goes to show you that “health” is inherently not dramatic. If Hamlet were “healthy,” we wouldn’t have a play. I mean, come on.
I also don’t find any of this particularly “healthy” since … they don’t even seem to be real people anymore. Or characters. They aren’t anything. There were glimpses in this last episode with Claire – for sure – but they were generalized, nothing specific.
and AGAIN they close with Claire driving off into the sunset – NOT with Sam and Dean … conversing. Relating. Not relating. There is NO thruline with the brothers this season – despite the fact of the glaring story-line of Mary’s return. You would think there would be so MUCH to say. But nope.
and oh yeah, the flashbacks, I know what you mean.
I have another nitpick – but it’s not really a nitpick because it shows what I consider to be a lack of confidence in what the series used to do so well that it was its own source of pleasure outside from anythign else:
The huge fight scene with Claire and BMOL and Sam and Dean – with bodies flying all over – the way it was filmed was different from how the fight scenes used to be filmed. The cuts were shorter. and … it felt like something was done to … “jazz it up” … make it more exciting (like that post I did recently about Liam Neeson climbing the fence.) You couldn’t really get a clear line on the action – and you couldn’t see these actors actually doing the fight choreography because the cuts came too quickly.
This is a very bad sign. A lack of confidence. A sense of being swayed by how things are done elsewhere – not realizing that their own version of drama – gritty and well-filmed and exquisitely performed – is one of the reasons the show is what it is.
I did NOT like how that fight scene was filmed.
Where exactly are you finding your trove of obscure Joan Crawford movies? TCM?
Scotter – the ones I mentioned here are in a box set called something like “Joan Crawford in the 1950s.”
She was still doing really good Leading Lady stuff throughout the 50s – maybe not nominated for Oscars (her final Oscar nomination was in 1952) – but good movies, tailored to her strenghts. Harriet Craig, in particular – not sure if you’ve seen that one … but it’s one of my favorite Crawford performances of all. Sick and twisted but in such a specific way.
Sheila, if you’re finding time for true-crime TV, I hope you’ll hunt down the “I Survived” series, which is far and away the best of its type. (Lifetime claims to have it available for streaming, but so far I’ve been unable to access these programs; I watched them when they first aired.) Unlike other survival shows, there’s no interviewer, no migraine-inducing flashing photographs, no cheesy reenactments. In each show, there are usually 3 people telling their stories. The person just sits there calmly facing the camera and says what happened. The person is almost always composed, having long before made peace with whatever horrible thing they went through; one never feels as though one is feeding off the person’s pain. Instead it’s like sitting next to an interesting stranger on a long train ride, where after a day or so you begin to open up to each other, and you tell and hear and most interesting damn stories, because you know you’ll never see each other again. Some of the people, usually women, have been the victims of violent crime, and some of the stories have to do with catastrophe–bears, ice floes, stormy seas. It’s just spellbinding. Turns out you can survive the center of a tornado if you’re holding on to the right tree. Also, you can be shot in the head five times and end up ok. Survival stuff has always fascinated me, mainly because I figure I’d probably bail when the going got rough, and I’m impressed by the strength of human beings. Often, when deciding, toward the end, whether to give up, they think about their families. They end up living because they refused to put their mothers or their children through the horror of never finding their bodies. Anyway, you’d like it.
Jincy – I don’t think I’ve seen I Survived – thank you for the heads up. Good to hear there aren’t those pesky re-enactments which can be so cheesy and I try to avoid shows that lean too heavily on that device.
// Survival stuff has always fascinated me, mainly because I figure I’d probably bail when the going got rough, and I’m impressed by the strength of human beings. //
I have a similar fascination.
If we have discussed this already – please forgive me – I can’t rmember – but have you seen Touching the Void (documentary)? (Based on a book.) Both book and doc are great and it’s one of the most harrowing “I survived” stories I’ve ever heard. I know for a FACT that at a couple of points along that same journey I would have thought, “Well. Clearly it’s my time to die. And that sucks. But I will just lie down here in the snow and let it happen.” But this guy … THIS GUY.
It’s incredible!
I second the recommendation for “I Survived”. The conversational tone of the interviews, and then having three stories interspliced, where you are stopped mid-stream in someone’s story to move back to another equally horrible situation is disconcerting but fascinating.
Is it Investigation Discovery channel? I’ll look it up – it sounds right up my alley.
It looks like you can watch all 66 full episodes on mylifetime.com (I’m not sure how I feel about referring you to LMN, but it’s giving me all sorts of giddy flashbacks to those old Joe McGinness movies from the 80s, like Fatal Vision with Gary Cole or Blind Faith with Blythe Danner.)
I know Fatal Vision but how did I miss Blind Faith??
Messed up the original trilogy of creepy family killer mini-series from Joe McGinniss – Cruel Doubt was the one starring Blythe Danner (and a young Gwyneth Paltrow as her daughter) and Blind Faith starred Robert Urich. LMN used to run these into the ground and my sister-in-law and I must have seen each of them four or five times.
Ha! Your interest in blood/guts/crime, I’m right there with you! The ID (Investigation Discovery) channel is killing me! My daughter walked through the house one day and someone was being stabbed by a family member she wanted to know what on earth was I watching. She did however warn my husband to watch out for me as I am learning terrible ways to do away with a spouse. It sure makes for interesting evenings when you’re alone in the house.
Lisa in Fort Worth
// My daughter walked through the house one day and someone was being stabbed by a family member she wanted to know what on earth was I watching. //
hahahahaha Oh man. I know. It’s so sick! But I can’t help it. It’s fascinating!
Congrats on July and Half of August playing at Ebertfest! I really want to go one year but I don’t think this is the year. Fitting day to think of Roger, I can believe it’s been 4 years.
The Right Stuff is one of my favorite films. I could go on and on, but I’ll just list some things I think are amazing:
– Sam Sheppard was larger than life as Yeager. Chuck Yeager is still alive. Chuck Yeager is the coolest man ever.
– The whole, expansive cast is amazing. It takes it’s time to get to know all the wives and the impact the experience had on them. It allowed those scenes to breathe. That enriched all the astronaut stuff immensely.
– The movie is really funny in many spots. The sequence of the failed launches in particular, but all throughout. Those guys had a camaraderie and sense of humor together that really rang true.
– The action set-pieces are awe inspiring, and have a visceral feel you don’t really find in today’s movies very often. The sequence near the end with Yeager falling out of the sky, Oh my!
– It had a cynical but realistic look at the way the government works.
– That doesn’t matter because it’s one of the all-time feel good movies.
-Everything to do with the last stretch makes me smile. The final shot of a smiling Dennis Quaid as the sarcastic Gordon “Gordo” Cooper, is one of my favorites in film.
An all-time American classic, and a good movie to watch right now!
Todd – yes, it was so fun to go re-visit that movie. It’s so good. I was re-watching for Kim Stanley’s scenes, because I was writing a piece about her – and she adds so much to the texture of those early sequences. That bar was a real place and a legendary place. Chuck Yeager was asked a question about Pancho’s on Twitter. It’s fallen into disrepair and would need some kind of fundraising push to re-build as some kind of memorial – which would be great, I think. The heroes and pioneers who passed through that dive desert bar.
::clears threat:: I’m new here, but I have something to say about these SPN episodes. It may pertain only to me, but it’s important and I wanna share, goddamnit.
So I was just probably put on disability at age 41 and am mourning the loss of my mind and career, sadly before the loss of my grad school debt, when I started watching SPN (at the pilot on Netflix, mind you in August 2016). I caught up to real time around the airing of “LOTUS.”
So I was forever wondering -wtf happened to the show now that it isn’t on Netflix? “We are the guys who save the world?” “You tend to ride the brakes?” I want my Netflix SPN back, not this weekly shit! They gutted the best show ever just when I caught up and can talk about it! I can’t imagine how you all feel, seeing it is real time, for 12 years, and then all of a sudden it is Souless!SPN! ::sobs into Crowley’s shoulder:: It all went wrong with Mary. They didn’t listen to the women in the writers room, because no mother would ever ghost on her adult children like that, and I’m not biased just because I have the cutest 4 year old boy ever who carries the laundry basket for me. No, that’s not it at all.
Maureen C –
welcome!
// I caught up to real time around the airing of “LOTUS.” //
Wow. So you’ve been very busy.
Yes, it’s all been very disheartening. There are many old threads on this site of earlier season re-caps and the conversation continues there – so please feel free to go join in!! :)
// They didn’t listen to the women in the writers room, because no mother would ever ghost on her adult children like that, //
Sadly, I disagree with this. In my mind – just speaking for myself here: Mary ghosting her kids is actually the most interesting thing this whole entire season – and goes along with all of the de-mythologizing the Mythology stuff that the show has always specialized in. Dad as Hero, Dad as horrible father … Competing memories of childhood – images of a dead parent – romanticizing a dead parent – blah blah – the Winchester Bell Jar, as I call it. Having Mom come back – and having her NOT be what they expect or need – now THAT’S the Supernatural I know. However, this team in charge has done nothing WITH it. They have consciously tried to LOWER the stakes. Have Sam be all understanding about it, have Dean play Words with Friends – neither of them have any FEELINGS about Mom not being what they want her to be.
If you go back to Season 1 and 2 – and even further – Sam and Dean were dealing with competing versions of their now-dead father – and it was extremely threatening and dramatic and made perfect sense. (Even as recently as Season 9, season 10 – John Winchester was still used as a reference point – Dean still being quick to defend, etc.)
This season should have been all about Mary. And about their reactions to Mom not being what they expect. There was a flash of that in Dean saying he never had a childhood – but it should have been handled obsessively, over and over again, in episode after episode.
It’s a disgrace.
I actually LIKE Mary as being someone coming back after decades away and shying away from parenting two grown men – not knowing how to do it, thinking they’re better off without her, whatever … I wish that had been explored more. I wish she had TRIED to mother them, and Sam and Dean rejected it – or had weird responses to it – I wish there had been family arguments – or what if she had bonded more with one of them? What if she shied away from Sam entirely, because he was too little to remember her? What if she couldn’t even deal with looking at him? How hurt would Sam be by that?
I mean, the possibilities are endless. I’m very disappointed that the only thing they chose to explore was Mary as “badass.” It’s been horrible. A total waste of one hell of a story line.
I don’t LIKE what Mary is doing, but I agree with you that it is interesting and compelling; well, it had potential to be interesting and compelling — Mary NOT being the holy tragic figure of their dreams/imagination but a flawed, difficult, disappointing actual human being could have been developed into some deeply emotional scenes instead of being squandered.
Yes, that’s exactly what I mean – it’s SUPER dramatic as a concept and completely in line with the show’s over-riding interest in family dynamics and how they operate, depending on your perspective. I think it’s a great choice to have Mary come back and not be a saintly maternal creature. Perfect!! How long have they been saint-ifying her?? How long have they lived with the myth of her as perfect? What would it be like to discover they were wrong? Or that … things change?
and what triggers would come up once she returned – whether or not she stuck around? abandonment issues … disappointment … little-boy reversions … the whole nine yards. We’ve seen none of that.
Such a huge bummer.
Mary coming back was an exciting idea, because of what you call the Bell Jar effect. Years of glimpses and peaks at what makes those two men tick could have been broken open, at least substantially cracked. Uncomfortable, forced conversation, with a dash of man tears and misunderstanding. Just the way I like it.
Instead we get “do you still like pie?” – kind of a let down.
On the other hand, as I write this I realize that Mary is a Winchester, and she just got sucked under the jar with them.
I just want something to happen already. I just want to CARE about the characters again.
// Uncomfortable, forced conversation, with a dash of man tears and misunderstanding. Just the way I like it. //
Yes! God, think of how great it could have been!
// I just want something to happen already. //
Me too.
Sam and Dean feel so indistinct to me now. It’s painful.
No, but in this latest episode Mary’s story was about work/life balance because that’s the supernatural we all know and love.
Ugh. Don’t get me started.
I’m having a hard time with Supernatural’s current season too. I cannot deal with Sam and Dean’s characterization; I’ll never be over the fact that an episode’s plot actually banked on the two of them agreeing to make a deal where the other might die and THEN justifying it by saying at least one of them could go on fighting. In what universe has either of them dealt with loss that rationally? It makes me want to go back and watch “Red Meat” or “Swan Song” to feel better!
On a happier note, Moana was amaaazing. Dwayne Johnson can do no wrong and Lin-Manuel Miranda is a genius. I bawled like a baby too. My friend also got emotional and we agreed upon leaving the theater that next time the two of us hung out, we’d need to pick an activity that didn’t involve crying together for almost two whole hours.
Audrey –
// I’ll never be over the fact that an episode’s plot actually banked on the two of them agreeing to make a deal where the other might die and THEN justifying it by saying at least one of them could go on fighting. //
I’m not even remembering this now. Ugh! What episode is this?
Also, what about the Hell Hound episode where they’re like, “Let’s lie to the girl because there’s nothing we can do for her, oh well …”
Sam and Dean?? Really?
In re: Moana:
Lin-Manuel, yes! Incredible!! I was almost shocked at how emotional I found the whole thing.
I’m assuming she means the one where they break out of the secret government prison by making a deal with Billie that one of them die.
Oh that’s right. On the bridge or whatever. That HORRIBLE scene with all of them just STANDING there. Ugh.
And Castiel saying STUFF. (ew)
I just … can’t bear it.
Someone help me bear it.
That’s the one. I watched that and was just… horrified. Entire seasons have been built on the premise that Sam and Dean cannot handle a future alone. The idea that one of them would SUGGEST endangering the other is laughable. Who is writing this stuff? Have they seen the show?
A sidebar: someone actually asked what was going on in that scene at a recent-ish convention and I think I remember Jared saying something like: the actors assumed that the brothers were assuming they would take the sacrifice for the other, etc. There were meaningful looks exchanged, etc. That’s a lot of assumptions + editors apparently cutting exchanges between the brothers. What the heck?
And having Castiel deliver what I guess should be the emotional family ultimatum of the episode? Come on, guys.
(I’m still figuring this reply tool out so I’m sorry if this is out of order or anything!)
And what ever happened to the promise of “Cosmic Consequences”? That was still this season, right? Beginning of 12? Are we ever getting back to that?
And I completely take your point Shiela that some moms would not be into parenting grown men even if they were her sons, while paying lip service to work life balance. Personally, I would want to at least spend a week or so getting to know them and what I had missed, but your description of how much opportunity the writers’ wasted is spot on. So. Much. Lost. It actually hurts my heart when I see an old episode and how this coulda woulda shoulda been. Sniff.
And dare I suggest, that the BM moments disappeared in connection to Mary’s return? Is it somehow related, in the writers’ minds, that with Mom back, that missing piece, the trauma healed, is the reason the brothers don’t need to talk/bond/connect anymore? Even my own explanation makes no sense, but neither does the writing.
Or do the Cosmic Cosquences refer to the extremely meta subject of no more BM moments and the beginning of Souless!SPN?
// That’s a lot of assumptions + editors apparently cutting exchanges between the brothers. What the heck? //
I definitely feel like the directors/writers are counting on JA and JP to fill in the subtext – that is not really there in the script – and then editing stuff out that could make the interactions richer, deeper, filled with those unspoken thoughts that help make SPN what it is.
Maureen –
// And dare I suggest, that the BM moments disappeared in connection to Mary’s return? Is it somehow related, in the writers’ minds, that with Mom back, that missing piece, the trauma healed, is the reason the brothers don’t need to talk/bond/connect anymore? Even my own explanation makes no sense, but neither does the writing. //
hahaha I know. It makes no sense. Those brothers always find something to talk about, or argue about, or disagree about. Why is NONE of that happening?
I get the sense they’ve hired a lot of new writers who are uncomfortable with emotions.
Do I not live for Dean’s snarky responses to overbearing authority figures while in custody and being interrogated?!? And exactly what was there to be gained by keeping silent? Why not go the crazy route and say you were exercising Lucifer from the President? And plenty of people have survived isolation… Dean could use that shard to write out the lyrics to every classic rock song ever then start over again instead of making a deal with Death, just flawed from the jump.
*exorcising
Stupid autocorrect
Like many households these days with young girls in it, Moana is a constant topic of discussion. My girls are always singing one of the songs, (usually “How Far I’ll Go”) or quoting lines from the movie, and it just kills me. I have to get a hold of myself, because I become so overwhelmed with emotion, just thinking about it. That movie was incredible.
The first time I saw it, I cried at many spots, but especially during that last sequence. It just destroyed me. And then we went to see it again, and of course I cried even harder. I couldn’t take it. Te Ka is actually Te Fiti? All that pain and suffering? And Moana’s wonderful gift in being able to recognize and acknowledge that? To be so beautifully present to her? It’s just too much.
That film is filled with so many wonderful messages. What a long way Disney has come with the films it makes for young girls.
// Te Ka is actually Te Fiti? All that pain and suffering? And Moana’s wonderful gift in being able to recognize and acknowledge that? To be so beautifully present to her? It’s just too much. //
I know!! I was blown away by it – and didn’t see it coming at all. It’s a very redemptive view, but it also shows the pain and suffering that has to be gone through before any kind of redemption is possible.
I was a wreck!!
I loved that Moana was taking hold of her place in the world – through connecting with the past and her ancestor’s traditions. But she had to get access to that past – she had to retrieve the continuity. Just beautiful!
That’s an important point — the idea of redemption. And you reminded me that I found that this movie was as much Maui’s story as it was Moana’s.
By the end, Maui had progressed from being selfish and self-centred to offering himself up as a sacrifice to Te Ka so that Moana could save the world. He finally understood that he was involved in something greater than himself. Which brings him full circle from the abandoned child who spent his entire existence trying to win the love of all of humanity, “It was never enough”.
Being willing to die for the good of the world was the greatest gift he could give, and which earned him the return of his magical fish hook, and of course, a new tattoo.
I also could not have anticipated that ending. Although, now that I think about it, Disney has been doing a lot more films lately were the monster is not really a monster, but a wounded, misunderstood creature. This was taking it to a whole new level though. I was just aching for Te Ka/ Te Fiti.
Helena G –
yes, I thought the development of the character of Maui was wonderful. It really is a “buddy film”. It was lovely!
and agreed: taking the misunderstood villain to a whole other level. I thought it was beautiful and healing.
Yes, took my little girl (20 yr old) to see Moana. It was awesome.
Re: Supernatural: I’m currently re-watching season 4. Tonight: When The Levee Breaks, which I can barely stand (but I’m showing SPN to someone so I have to watch everything.)
Demon blood, addiction, lies, hot demon sex, betrayal, meaningful looks, Alastair, angels, the memory/threat of rape EVERYWHERE but never spoken, Castiel all fierce and odd and threatening, references to Kim Manners… I mean, it’s not the same show, it’s just not.
Have we even had a good legs moment this year?
I’m sorry, maybe I should have refrained from posting this, I do not add anything to the conversation. I just had to share my heartbreak, I guess. (and my excitement for season 4.)
No “legs” moments that I can remember. The camera just isn’t looking at these guys the same way. It’s still Serge, right?
The problem comes from way higher-up than Serge. Loss of focus and intent.
It’s disheartening to watch early seasons alongside this one, although maybe I should just dig in and do a proper re-watch. (and, uhm, eventually do my damn re-cap for The Kids Are All Right? Season 3!!)
Because the commitment and focus of so many seasons – so many!! – is an incredible testament to Kripke’s initial idea – and the fact that JA and JP stayed on so long (and the rest of the team, for the most part) –
In general, I like to celebrate, not hate. ha. And I can’t even say I “hate” this – I just feel kind of … heartbroken and hurt. Like, I miss those people. I miss my show.
But yeah, man, let’s hear it for SEASON 4!!!
Yes, do the recap! I love reading your recaps!
I’m actually making money now as a writer. hahaha This is a GOOD thing but it means I can’t write here as much as I used to. I had to let some things go.
But I haven’t given up hope that I can keep going – and honestly I feel like we all might need it now, yes?
Yes yes Shiela! With all that is not-nice in this world right now, and I do understand that your resources are finite and do not belong to us, HA! But if you have any energies left over to give (another, more) something beautiful and positive into this world, let it be a indulgent deep dive into “The Kids Are All Right” in Season 3. And the world led will heal just a little bit. A little Te Fiti in a world of Te Ka? No pressure or anything. Nope, not here sir, nah, none.